A Perth businessman whose flat was wrecked after the North Inch floodgates were left open last October has welcomed an admission that the council got it wrong.
Blain Ross says it’s the first time victims have seen it in writing.
And he’s calling on Perth and Kinross Council to go further to reassure flood-hit residents it will never happen again.
The authority’s legal chief Lisa Simpson accepts wrongdoing several times in a new report on the floodgates fiasco.
Blain’s property in Rose Terrace was among dozens that were trashed as the city was battered by torrential rain.
Bell’s Sports Centre also suffered £2 million of damage.
It has never reopened.
An amber weather warning had been issued for the weekend of October 6-8 2023.
But the council later admitted there were too few trained staff on duty to close all of the gates in Perth’s £25 million flood defences in time.
Ms Simpson has now said: “With the benefit of hindsight, in relation to the floodgates on the North Inch, this was the wrong decision.”
Call for fire crews to get more control over North Inch from flooding
St John’s Bar and Restaurant boss Blain says he has waited 14 months to read those words.
“We’ve been calling on the council to admit wrongdoing all this time,” he said.
“Officers have said the odd thing at meetings, but there’s been nothing written down in emails or letters.”
He’s grateful the admission has finally come, and says he now has confidence to submit a claim for compensation.
“It’s different to see it admitted in black and white in an official report,” he said.
“It makes a huge difference from our point of view.”
But while he’s grateful for the assurances in the report, he wants the council to do more.
“I really want the council to work with Scottish Fire and Rescue to train crews to close the floodgates,” said Blain.
“Then if, for whatever reason, the council or Tayside Contracts can’t do it, there’s someone who can protect us.”
Councillors urged to heed floodgates call
Fire chiefs have said previously there have been no discussions with the council regarding the floodgates.
Blain is pressing councillors to raise his suggestion when the scrutiny and performance committee meets on Wednesday to consider the report.
“It was the fire service who pumped millions of litres of water out of the park,” he said
“It was the fire service who pumped the water our of our homes and were there on site supporting us through all this.
“I’m pretty sure they’d rather have had the ability to close the gates on the Saturday.”
Despite the admission of wrongdoing, Ms Simpson defends the council’s emergency procedures.
She says residents can have confidence that the problems were not due to “systematic failure” of the Perth flood prevention scheme.
But she writes: “Inadequate staffing resources over that weekend and the unexpected severity of the weather event undermined the quality of our response on that occasion.”
Conversation